Marek Janowski recorded a Brahms
cycle in the mid-1980s during his period with the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. I found this, on its
recent reissue, generally impressive with the First one
of the highlights but with a disappointing Fourth. It is
not stated whether the present issue heralds a new complete
cycle.

I started by listening again to the Liverpool versions of these
two works and it was a pleasure to renew acquaintance with such
satisfying performances. In the “Haydn”, each variation is
given at a well-chosen tempo with scrupulous attention to
the dynamics and phrasing in the score and with warm but
never heavy sonorities. At the same time there is a freshness
which prevents it from being merely an object lesson in non-interventionist
interpretation.

The symphony, too, received one of the few really recommendable performances
I know, with the first movement repeat, precious few quirks
and a fairly mobile slow movement.

Twenty years on in Pittsburgh I am impressed above all by
Janowski’s
consistency. The variations are once again beautifully turned
and the freshness has not been lost. The new recording – which
I heard as a normal CD – picks up just that little extra
detail. When the double bassoon is playing, for example,
it really penetrates the texture. Perhaps on account of this
the principal woodwind players come across with a touch more
personality in Pittsburgh. Janowski, for his part, is a tad
swifter in variations 4, 6 and 7. I thought no.4 a shade
pushed but no.6 is now wonderfully exuberant, without a trace
of the pompousness it sometimes has. As for no.7, it undoubtedly
matches Brahms’s “grazioso” marking even more than before.
My trouble is that I grew up with Furtwängler and I still
find it hard to forego his long-drawn, romantic treatment
of this particular variation. Variation 8 is now not just
hushed but positively eerie – most impressive. In spite of
the “live” provenance of the new recording the finale closes
with more elation in Liverpool. I think this just adds up
to a very slight preference for the new version but it’s
a close-run thing.

In the symphony we also note that the Pittsburgh strings
have greater weight than those of Liverpool. Less welcome
is a tendency
for the horns to blare. Janowski is now fractionally faster
in the first two movements, a tad slower in the last two.
The new performance is a little more excitable than the older
one, perhaps because it’s live. This, together with the point
I made about the horns, sometimes translates into a sense
of inflexibility I didn’t notice in Liverpool. I don’t want
to make too much of this since it not likely to worry anyone
not making comparisons.

Janowski makes few interpretative “points” but it’s fascinating to
find those few reproduced identically – the pacing of the
last movement coda, for instance. The one movement where
I feel he does improve on his former self is the third. It
was already very fine but now, with just that fraction more
space, every detail of the score is captured yet set in its
proper perspective. The outer parts of this movement have
scoring of a pointillist delicacy unlike any other orchestral
music by Brahms and I’ve never heard them better done.

I must say I noticed this was a live recording only when
I started to write the header details above. I don’t know if listening
on headphones might reveal some muffled coughs but I noticed
nothing on loudspeakers – no applause either and full resonance
at the end of both works.

It might seem a paradox to say that these are among the most
recommendable versions available of both works and yet at
the same time
say the disc hardly needed making. The earlier versions were
also among the most recommendable versions of both works
and the differences are minimal. In view of Janowski’s consistency
over the years I therefore wonder just what this new disc
actually adds to the store of recorded music on disc. I rather
wish Janowski had been employed in Pittsburgh conducting
something he hasn’t recorded yet. Still, here it is, and
since it has been made I suppose it supersedes the old recording.
Especially for SACD collectors, or those who don’t want to
buy a 4-CD set and saddle themselves with a lacklustre Fourth
Symphony.

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